In application server and other enterprise computing environments, a common task for an administrator is the need to patch a series of application server installations supporting multiple domains. A patch may include a one-off fix for a specific problems, or a periodic version update. Regardless of why the patch needs to be installed, the administrator must generally perform a complex series of steps on each node of the domain in order to rollout the patch while minimizing application downtime, including ensuring the patching environment is up to date on each host; shutting down those servers running on the host; and then patching and restarting the application server instances and verifying the patch works correctly. Since patching is a complex process, and even for a single application server instance can take many minutes, which can become hours when a patch is applied to all nodes in a domain, the process can create anxiety for users who risk the possibility of system downtime.